Day 5 - Train Journey to Chiang Mai

Today was part 2 of our exciting train journey, but not until 1:22 pm. So we finally got to sleep long again, until 9:30 am. Unfortunately, not longer, otherwise we would have missed breakfast. We had also forgotten when we had to check out. But now we had seen everything worth seeing in Phitsanulok. What to do? We just strolled around a little and through a market... There was durian fruit... You can't take durian fruit into the hotel room or eat it on the train. Now we really wanted to know what it smells like and how it tastes. First of all, it's giant, weighs several kilos, and has a super hard shell, so you usually buy it in pieces, similar to our watermelon. We unwrapped a piece of the fruit and held it to our noses. Yuck, smelly feet. It already smelled really disgusting. But that doesn't mean it tastes disgusting. However, before I wanted to take a hearty bite, I just tasted a little bit. The consistency was already creepy, like cream cheese, and it tasted awful. I had to spit it out immediately. Disgusting. Vera also tried it and even took a second bite. She claimed it tasted like good stinky cheese. I claim it had none of that. Yuck. But well, we threw most of it away anyway. And the taste didn't go away. Yuck. To get rid of the taste, we bought a lemonade and I treated myself to a fresh spring roll with salad. Better!!!

At the train station, we were immediately taken care of again. At least 4 different officials came to us at different intervals, confirming that we were in the right place and informing us when the train was supposed to come. Nothing can go wrong here.

In the train, we had a great seat next to a father and his daughter (German). We had a nice conversation among other things. But after a while, it was much more fun to look out the window as the landscape changed. The fields gave way to forests and suddenly we were in the jungle, in the rainforest. Great, what you usually only see on TV, was right behind the window here. Colorful birds and colorful giant butterflies. The train ride was awesome. I really enjoyed it and could have kept going for even longer, but eventually it got dark.

Around 8 pm, we arrived in Chiang Mai and all the Chiang Mai taxi drivers were already competing for the arriving tourists. We then drove together with a few other tourists to Chiang Mai's Old City and the taxi reliably dropped us off at our hotel. Check-in, settle into a nice room, and off we went to find food.... But now it was raining. Rainforest and rainy season. But we were able to borrow an umbrella and hit the streets. After a while, we found something that appealed to us and we could end the evening.